Azure Haunts
by xStormyx
Summary: "Nothing really dies as long as it's not forgotten" - that's what he'd told Jenny. For years, she kept his memory close to her heart, not knowing just how true his words were.
1. A World Of Colours

I don't own anything in this fic except the poetry, any OC's that might appear and the original plot. Everything else belongs to L. J. Smith.

You'll recognise the beginning as an excerpt from the last book. You guys will see the significance of it later.

This is a boring chapter to start with but it's kinda important. Kudos to Clairavance for encouraging me to write a FG fanfic - thank you!

I'm not entirely sure how far or how long it's going to go on for. Constructive crit is welcome!

I hope you guys like this and try to bear with me. Like I said, this is a necessary chapter.

Let's get started!

* * *

You pulled me close and you whispered words,

That were the ghosts of our different worlds,

I saw the desires that seduced your soul;

Your eventual redemption, I now extol.

.'.

"_You can't die," Jenny whispered raggedly around the tears. "There must be something to do. You can't just go out – "_

_Julian was smiling._

"_No, I'll dream another dream," he said. "I've made up so many things, now I'll just go into one. I'll be part of it."_

"_All right," Jenny whispered. She suddenly knew that there was nothing to be done, nothing except to help him all she could. There was something in his face that told her – a peace that was already gathering. She wouldn't disturb that peace now. "You go into the dream, Julian."_

"_You don't blame me?"_

"_I don't blame you for anything."_

"_Whatever else I did, I loved you," he said. He stirred, and then added, "Maybe you'll dream about me sometime, and that will help get me there."_

_"I will. I'll dream you into a place without any shadows, only light."_

_He looked at her then, and she could see he wasn't afraid._

"_Nothing really dies as long as it's not forgotten," he said._

_And then blue mist seemed to gather in his eyes and obscure the flame._

"_Go to the dream," Jenny whispered. "Go quick, now."_

_His chest was still, and she didn't think he heard her. But she caught the faintest breath of sound – not with her ears, but with her mind._

"_Your ring..."_

_The hand that had been on his chest slipped, and Jenny saw the gold ring there. Jenny picked it up._

_The inscription on the inside had changed. The words were no longer a spell to bind Jenny._

_Before, it had said: All I refuse & thee I chuse._

_Now it said simply: I am my only master_

* * *

Jenny Thornton cursed as her honey-coloured hair got tangled in the massive bouquet as she lifted it from the back seat of her car. She wished she'd listened to her boss and brought the truck even if she did hate the damn vehicle. She could almost hear her superior's voice in her head: _I'm always right! This is why you should listen to me. Anyway, the truck is more professional as well as pragmatic. _Of course, Jenny's usual remark about people not caring about the truck as much as the flowers would fall on deaf ears.

She sighed, giving the bouquet in her arms a once over to make sure it wasn't damaged – another reason why she should have used the larger vehicle for her delivery. Shaking her head, she made to walk across the road before stopping suddenly. She looked left to right, making sure there were no on-coming cars ready to kill her, and hastened across the road to the large house. In the past seven years, Jenny had found it difficult to adjust to the fact that she was now vulnerable to the dangers of the world, just like anyone else. Having spent 16 years wrapped in a cocoon of safety, it still slipped her mind that she wasn't lucky nor protected. The shield that had always followed her was no more.

She looked at the sheet in her hand and glanced back up at the house before her, confirming she was at the right address. The black door was large and ornate. It was perfectly preserved but there was something ancient about it to Jenny's mind. She lifted the knocker and rapped it several times against its counterpart then waited. It wasn't long before it swung open to reveal a pretty woman.

"Somebody sending you a lot of love," Jenny said with a smile as she lifted the bouquet of multi-coloured roses higher.

The woman laughed lightly, taking it from her and Jenny sighed as she was relieved of the weight. She extracted the clipboard from under her arm and held it out to the recipient who was running her hands over the petals, delighted. Jenny beamed upon seeing the woman's obvious pleasure – after all, even if the order had come from someone else, it was Jenny who'd taken the time to arrange the flowers. That's why she always insisted on delivering them as well – so she could see their reactions. It made her feel good.

The lady set them aside and turned to take the pen and clipboard from her to sign.

"Just here," Jenny instructed, pointing to a spot on the document. She glanced around the garden as she waited and noted that it was exceptionally well kept. There were a myriad of flowers around the sides, like a multi-coloured border. "You have a beautiful garden," she remarked, taking the signed sheet back.

"Thank you," the owner smiled. "I'm afraid the only thing I can take credit for is paying my gardener. He's very talented."

Jenny smiled, running her eyes over the array of snowballs, irises, hyacinths, roses and zinnias. There were many others and she noted that it was an unorthodox arrangement – she certainly wouldn't have thought to put them together like this – but it looked good.

"Clearly he is," Jenny agreed. Then, she flashed another smile at the owner who reciprocated in kind before making her way back to her car. Before she got back in, she glanced at the garden one last time and slid into her seat. As she turned on the ignition and made her way back to the shop, Jenny's mind was on the blue hyacinths.

* * *

She was 23 years old now and had passed with a degree in computer forensics. She'd graduated a year before everyone else and graduated well but as soon as she was free to find a job – which should have been easy with the number of offers flying her way – Jenny had been compelled to go another way. She hadn't known what it was until she'd passed a florist and seen a single white rose in a holder on the door. Without thinking, Jenny had entered the little shop without any idea what she was doing there. Her now-supervisor, Irina, had been befuddled when Jenny kept going back every day and staring at all the flowers as if she'd never before seen them.

One day when she'd been wandering around the shop aimlessly admiring the plants, she'd heard two of the employees arguing over what flowers would look best together. Without thinking, Jenny had spoken out, telling them what she thought would look best. Surprised, they'd followed her advice. The bouquet had been one of the best they'd ever made and they recommended her instantly to Irina who hired her, uncertain at first.

The reluctance soon turned to glee when Jenny started pulling together different flowers to make pieces of art that were an instant hit. The shop's popularity rocketed and they now had regulars who always requested their 'special bouquets'. These were always made by Jenny. The others could follow her instructions but they never seemed to be appreciated the way Jenny's handmade ones were. Her two co-workers often jokingly claimed she was in possession of magic dust.

Jenny only smiled in response but her thoughts always turned to a memory that was only seven years old but seemed much older. Always, her mind remembered only a few words of the memory: _I'll dream you into a place without any shadows, only light._

She didn't know if she only appreciated the beauty of nature and its purity because she'd seen the unnatural ugliness of another world. Sometimes she thought that the promise she'd made to Julian was more binding than she'd realised. Every time she touched a flower she noticed every facet of its enduring beauty even in the shadows that wrapped around it. In the back of her mind, she often told herself it was symbolic of his nature. Ultimately, he'd been good – a beauty wrapped in and cursed by shadows.

The last present he'd given her before passing hung on a chain around her neck. Every time that she went to work with the flowers and delivered them, her fingers always fluttered to the ring and her heart always whispered a silent offering to the young man with the indescribably blue eyes that still lived in her subconscious.

_Here's more beauty for you_, her heart would sigh as it imagined all of the light that would bounce off the multi-coloured petals.

_Here's another gift for you, _her mind would murmur as she handed the token of her client's love to the recipient.

Despite this though, Jenny wasn't pining for Julian. She loved him still with a poignancy that made her marvel at his far-reaching influence but it wasn't enough to send her spiralling into depression. Her life certainly didn't _revolve _around thoughts of Julian. Yes, she thought of him every day but for a man who had loved her so desperately and given his life for her, didn't he at least deserve that much?

It was just a belief that the more love she spread in the world, the more there was for Julian wherever he was. This thought made her happy and it had been her way of life for a long time now. She was content with the smiles she saw every day, the colours that surrounded her and the memory that she carried them with.

Jenny still smiled. Jenny still laughed. Jenny had new friends and she still loved her old ones very much. She had seen others leave behind their high-school friends as they outgrew them but she was bound to hers by something far stronger than mere adolescent attachment. Tom, Dee, Audrey, Michael, Zach and Summer had stood by her with such fierce loyalty and they had pulled through so much together that no amount of time could break their bond. She _had _left behind her relationship with Tom but they both retained a deep affection for one another and it made the rift that had arisen between them easier to overcome.

She hadn't stopped loving Tom – it had just changed. Or maybe she had changed. It was difficult to tell. All she knew was, after Julian's sacrifice and Jenny's promise, something had changed her in a way she hadn't fully realised until later. For instance, in the years that followed, she had strangely changed her colour preference. Each year, her mind was drawn to a different one and if she tried a different colour, she was always restless. In the first, it had been red and in the second, it had changed to orange. She'd thought nothing of it at first but then the next year it was yellow and then it was green. It wasn't until Audrey had asked her a peculiar question that she'd realised how odd her habit actually was:

"_What are you going to do after 7 years, mi amica? The rainbow's not infinite you know."_

Last year had been the worst. She'd tried hard to ignore her hankerings after blue clothes, blue shoes, blue nail varnish, blue jewellery, blue _everything_. It had become increasingly painful to be continually drawn to the colour when it resembled the twin pools that had closed so slowly years ago. Try as she might, she couldn't resist her strange attraction so when the new year had rolled around and she found herself drawn to violet, Jenny had been immensely relieved.

Last year had been the only problem she'd had since Julian's demise and she suspected that she only had herself to blame. In hindsight, she realised that if she'd just given in to the phase, it might have passed over her head without so much as a second thought. The rest of her life went on smoothly. She succeeded in everything she did, she blew through all of her problems smoothly and she was still hopeful about life.

Nobody could say Jenny Thornton was miserable. She was her own master. Nobody could find proof to contradict that belief.

But if anybody saw the way her hand wrapped around the ring as she slept, neither could they say she was happy.


	2. Yearning

_She smiles and laughs and lies and lies_

_And she hides the truth behind her words. _

_But I've seen the longing in her eyes,_

_And her yearning, I have heard._

_.'._

_As soon as he stepped into the garden, he knew. It repelled and beckoned him. _

_He'd stepped into the ghost of her footsteps and his feet stung as if they'd been burnt. He would have laughed were it not for the panic that had begun to settle in the pit of his stomach. His eyes swept over the plants that he'd arranged so carefully, looking for anything to indicate it was his mind playing tricks on him. Surely she couldn't have been __**here**__? He would have sensed her miles away… wouldn't he? _

_Yet he could feel her now – her aura still hung on the garden. It was at once both a seductive scent that wrapped around him tantalisingly and a cursed stench that unravelled his resolve. _

_He paused then inhaled, breathing deeply. Yes, she had definitely been here – her scent was unmistakable. It reeked of purity, sweetness and everything that he had loved in her. It was all Jenny only it was more intense than he remembered it. He didn't know if it was because he hadn't experienced it for a long time or if it had actually strengthened. In the end, it really didn't matter._

_It was dangerous to his tenacity; it was so steeped in seduction and virginity that he shuddered. _

_And there was something else hidden behind it; it was faint – very faint – but strong enough to wreak havoc on his senses…_

_He closed his eyes. An overwhelming longing to see her just one last time was shocking through him, running along his nerves and setting his body on fire. He could feel all of his control fall away, all of his discipline melt and he took another deep breath. The air around him was crackling with power, tiny jolts of lightning temporarily lighting up the darkness. _

_Maybe I could see her one last time, he thought. Maybe if I saw her with my own eyes I could deal with this better. Maybe…_

_Another crackle resounded through the silence of the night and his eyes snapped open. Tiny sparks were decorating the air around him and he took another deep breath and shook his head. Shades! She was nowhere to be seen and still her power over him was as potent as it had ever been. _

_And he was thinking of seeing her? _

"_No," he hissed to himself. He would go nowhere near her. He had no idea why she'd been here and he didn't want to know. _

_He looked at the grand house in front of him before sweeping his gaze over the garden again. He'd worked to make it beautiful and he'd succeeded because he'd been thinking of Jenny as his fingers worked through it. He'd worked the soil with all of the tenderness of a lover, planted the seeds with the care of a protector and watched over them with the devotion of a guardian. Always, it had been with the image of her face in his mind and the reminder that she loved flowers. _

_But now that he knew she'd been here, now that he could imagine her stepping into this sanctuary of beauty, it seemed ruined somehow. Perhaps it was because it was symbolic of the danger that ran deep within the act. He couldn't – wouldn't – allow her to step into his life._

_He held a hand out and took one last look at his work before the air turned chilly. Suddenly a gale blew around him, fiercely ripping into his surroundings. Within seconds, the beautiful flowers were scattered across the grass dismally. The shadows cast by the night twisted his smirk into a snarl as he looked at the house again._

"_Nice little present for you in the morning," he snickered. She would never imagine that her talented gardener had destroyed his own hard work. Then again, when she found that he'd disappeared, she might actually use that puny brain of hers to put two and two together. _

_He wouldn't come back. It was time to move on. And with this firmly in mind, he took one last breath of fresh air and disappeared, the crackling sparkles lighting the garden that now lay in ruins. _


	3. Between One Awakening

Sorry about the delay guys. My other fic is taking up what little free time I have left.

This chap is longer than the previous one but it focuses on one little scene. These beginning chapters are a bit slow and broken but they will slowly intertwine and get longer... And much more complicated.

This one was meant to be longer but I decided ending it where I did would be better - for various reasons. Anyway, I promise I'll try to make it so you guys don't have to wait too long till the next chapter. As always, reviews are much welcome! Thank you to everyone who has - I really really appreciate it!

* * *

Unnatural haunts rest in blue eyes;

Delivering nothing but seductive lies.

Ethereal beauty seeped in a smile,

Designed to dazzle and forever beguile.

.'.

_She'd known from the moment Summer had been taken away that Julian had no limits. But his obsessive games had taught her one thing – that he wouldn't hurt her. Not really. And when she'd found Summer in the Shadow world, and the full extent of Julian's actions had hit her, another strange realisation had occurred to her: he could have killed her in his house of horrors. And when he'd taken her to his world, he could have handed Summer to his eternally hungry ancestors. But he hadn't done either. _

_It had taught Jenny that Julian's character was more complex than she could have possibly imagined; the pure evil she'd hated him for simply didn't exist. And she'd been assured of one thing – he wouldn't hurt her or her friends. Not really. _

_That belief was thrown right out of the window now as he stood by the fireplace, leaning against the wall and glaring at her, his eyes ablaze with red-hot temper. At this moment in time, Jenny was afraid in a way she'd never been before because a part of her knew that whatever she said or did… there was nothing holding him back. She didn't know or understand how she'd come to such a conclusion – one that contradicted what she'd believed – but somehow, she knew._

_His forbidding figure glowed, framed by the amber of the fire but his icy presence was far too potent and it chased away all the warmth in the room. Though she was standing by the doorway and could easily escape, her feet were rooted to the spot, unable to move. His dark eyes were keeping her right where she was._

_Unable to bear the silence anymore, she finally spoke, the sound echoing terrifyingly in the void between them:_

"_Julian," she whispered, her voice shaking with fear. Her heart nearly stopped when he moved, raising a finger to his lips in an indication for her to stay quiet. She obeyed instantly. _

_He pushed himself away from the wall suddenly and Jenny's breath caught in her throat. Her mouth dried with every step he took towards her and when he stopped inches before her, her vision blurred momentarily. His eyes swept over the planes of her face, down her neck and rested at the ring hanging off her chain. _

_Snow-white fingers rose to it and Jenny began to shake, gripped by an unspeakable terror. The light of the fire faded and the darkness spread all around her till there was nothing left except his hand, raised at her throat, his breath icy and cold, and his eyes flashing menacingly. Jenny felt her legs give out at last and the darkness finally overwhelmed her._

.'.

Jenny sat up with a gasp, her chest heaving as she gulped for air. She ran a hand through her blond locks and looked around her bedroom, her eyes darting this way and that, as if searching for the blue eyes that had overwhelmed her. When her sense of time and place returned, she realised her fear was without foundation and she willed herself to calm down, telling herself she had no need to be scared. She took another deep breath and shook her head.

"Get a grip, Jenny," she muttered to herself.

Even as she said the words, she found a heavy weight on her chest accompanied by an unpleasant tugging around her neck. She glanced down to make sure that her ring was still there but, to her shock, found her hand wrapped tightly around it, hiding it from sight. Her fingers unwound instantly and the ring fell against her skin, unnaturally cool. She frowned at her hand, taken aback by the whiteness of her knuckles as it faded, before turning to the trinket and lifting it up to her eyes. The words were still the same: _I am my own Master. _Somehow, she wasn't comforted by them this time.

Still disconcerted, she let it drop, knowing she was probably just suffering the aftermath of the dream. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and padded through her apartment. Out of habit, her hand reached for the switch in her kitchen and when she flicked it and no light appeared she chastised herself for forgetting to replace the light-bulb. She made a mental note (for the millionth time since the morning before) to do it as soon as it was light – she was far too preoccupied by the contents of her dream to deal with such trivial matters right now. In the kitchen, she grabbed a glass from the tray nearby and filled it with water. As she sipped at it, she leaned against the sink, her legs weak.

In the past 7 years, Jenny had had plenty of dreams about Julian. It had been an inevitable effect of her experience with him. Most of the time, they didn't bother her, even if they were a little dark. After all, she'd dealt with a world of shadows – a little darkness hardly bothered her. The rest of the time, she fulfilled her promise and dreamt good dreams from which she could wake up with a smile and feel content in her memory of Julian.

But not this time. She didn't quite understand it. Something about the dream had been too compelling, too… _cold_.

"Snap out of it," she chastised herself, setting the glass down in the sink and shaking her head. Her eyes flickered to the window, up at the sky. It was still dark. She knew she should get to sleep but she felt so wound up that the idea of slipping back into that unpredictable world of dreams and nightmares seemed out of the question. "I should try anyway," she told herself, starting to make her way back to the bedroom.

That's when she saw it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jenny saw something move: it was like a chunk of shadow detaching itself from the darkness and flying over the sliver of light peering in through her window. She straightened instantly, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the room. She wasn't going to lie to herself – she was alarmed. But not scared enough to lose her head. After facing the shadow men, it would make little sense for her to fear anything. Even as she looked around though, Jenny found nothing out of place; everything was as it should have been. Still, she remained frozen for several minutes before sighing again and smiling wryly at how paranoid the dream had made her. Of course there was nothing in her room.

Just as she'd convinced herself of this though, she saw it again. It slithered back across the square of light on her floor and over the back of her sofa. Her chest tightened. Even in the dark of her room, she could make it out by its complete blackness: it slid around the lamp in the far corner and wrapped itself around it as if in an embrace. Jenny dimly registered that it was a clever move – she would hesitate to go near the only reachable source of light, thus leaving her vulnerable.

She blinked, wondering what to do about it. There was no doubt in her mind that whatever – whoever – it was, it was of Julian's kind and she knew what danger lay in that possibility. But before she could even begin to think of a way out of this situation, it disappeared and an instant later, she yelped in alarm and pain as her hand flew to the ring; the skin on her neck burnt where the chain had been yanked. Jenny's eyes darted around the room, looking for the entity that had attacked her and she felt it again: two hands pushed at her back with enough force that she fell to her knees. A hissing and snarling echoed unnaturally around the room and her heart was thumping in a way it hadn't for a long time. The courage she had always possessed deserted her and she struggled to her feet, her mind fixed on one action and one action alone – to run.

But just as she'd barely managed to steady herself, the sounds stopped. Jenny froze for a split second, terrified by this new silence – and then she bolted for the door.

_Tom! _her insides screamed, _I need to get to Tom! _

The floor beneath her running feet disappeared and she was flying through the air and everything was melting into a haze of darkness. Jenny opened her mouth to scream but even as she took in a deep breath, her eyes were closing. A powerful drowsiness dulled her mind and killed her senses and the last thing she heard before she was claimed by the dark abyss was the sound of harsh murmur followed by a dark laugh.

And when Jenny jumped from her warm bed in the morning, sleepiness still running through her, it was more than 7 hours after the incident and the only thing she remembered was that she had to buy some new light bulbs for the kitchen.


End file.
